Finally, the wait was over. For the past week, the University of Warsaw library had been packed with promising young scientists. 110 researchers aged 14 to 20 presented their projects during an intense competition, in the hope of impressing an international jury. They were competing for honours in the 26th annual European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS), which concluded with the awards ceremony today. Aside from the right to count themselves among the best young scientists in Europe, the winners also divided up a total of €62.500 in prize money, as well as other coveted prizes such as science trips (MEMO/14/536).

The three first prizes of €7000 each were awarded to João Pedro Estácio Gaspar Gonçalves de Araújofrom Portugal for “A natural characterization of semilattices of rectangular bands and groups of exponent two”, Mariana De Pinho Garcia and Matilde Gonçalves Moreira da Silvafrom Portugal for “Smart Snails” and Luboš Vozdecký from the Czech Republic for "Rolling Friction". This year, second prizes went to projects from Ireland, Bulgaria and Slovenia for original projects in the areas of Mathematicsand Chemistry. The three third prizes were given to projects from Lithuania, the United Kingdom and Germany (see annex 1 for details).

The contest also featured a Prize for International Cooperation, for the best project from invited guest countries: USA, Canada, China, New Zealand, South Korea and Switzerland. The prize, underlining the benefits of international scientific cooperation in research, was won by Eric Giles Schertenleib from Switzerland for "Jet and Film – On the interaction between a laminar jet and a soap film".

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science said: "The quality of the entries to this competition continues to amaze me, and I congratulate all the participants. Research and innovation spring from a diversity of ideas, so we must allow young people the freedom to develop their ideas and create. We also have to work harder to increase female participation in science and technology. These are real challenges for our education systems."

The Warsaw contest brought together 77 projects from 36 countries, including EU Member States and associated and international countries. All entries had already won first prize in their country's respective national science contests in their specific field. The project topics covered a broad spectrum of scientific areas: biology, physics, chemistry, computing, social sciences, environment, mathematics, materials, engineering and medicine. This year's jury was chaired by Dr Henrik Aronsson, from the University of Gothenburg and was composed of 18 International scientists in the different scientific fields.

Background

The European Union Contest for Young Scientists was set up by the European Commission in 1989 to encourage co-operation and exchange between young scientists and to give them an opportunity to be guided by some of Europe's most prominent researchers. The first competition took place in Brussels and has been held in 24 different European cities since then.

The contest seeks to support efforts made in participating countries to attract young people to studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and to choosing careers in science and research. The number of young scientists has gone from 59 at the first edition in 1989 to 110 this year. The record was 137 contestants in 2009 in Paris. Past winners have gone on to prestigious careers in research, for instance at the European Space Agency and CERN. One of this year's Fields Medal winners, Professor Martin Hairer, won a prize at the 1991 contest.

Female participation in the contest reflects the broader issue of underrepresentation of women in STEM. This year, 37% of the participants were female (41 participants vs. 69 male participants). In 1997 female participation in EUCYS exceeded 30% for the first time, and since then has usually been between 30% and 35%, with a peak of 41% in 2005. Over the 26 years, 183 young women and 614 young men have won prizes.

Full details of this year's contest can be found at:http://media.eucys2014.pl. All three first prize winning teams were awarded €7000; second and third-placed teams received €5000 and €3500 respectively. Other prizes included trips to the London International Youth Science Forum and the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar, prizes from corporate sponsors including trips to Intel ISEF in the US, as well as awards from the European Commission's in-house science service, the Joint Research Centre, pan-European research organisation group Eiroforum and the European Patent Office.

Project title: A natural characterization of semilattices of rectangular bands and groups of exponent two

Abstract: In a recent paper, R. A. R. Monzo characterized semilattices of rectangular bands and groups of exponent 2. However, his characterization does not point directly to the properties of rectangular bands and groups of exponent 2 (namely, idempotency and commutativity). My work consisted in proving a natural characterization of this type of semillatice.

Abstract:The development of a chronic mollusc toxicity test is currently a work item on the agenda of the OECD. We report the improvement and standardization of a toxicity bioassay using eggs of the great pond water snail Lymnaea stagnalis L., which have a biological indicator of water pollutants. We optimized both isolation and synchronization methods to reduce variability, and identified sensitive developmental stages and parameters to assess the putative toxicological effects (i.e. heartbeat, period of development, hatching success, mortality and movement). Our work is an invaluable advancement to develop a reliable, fast and inexpensive environmental embryo toxicity test for molluscan species.

Country: Czech Republic

Contestant: Luboš Vozdecký (19)

Field: Physics

Project title: Rolling Friction

Abstract:There are many theories in books or on the Internet, each of which describes rolling friction in a different way. The basic idea that is used in almost all theories is that the deformations of underlay cause a force which we observe as rolling friction. Some theories claim that there is a bulge formed in front of the rolling body and this bulge is supposed to cause rolling friction. Although there are no experiments that would either confirm or disprove the theory, this theory seems to be generally accepted. The aim of this work is to design and do an experiment that would capture the deformations of an underlay under a rolling body and that would afterwards either confirm or disprove the theories described above. Another aim of this work is to introduce a theory that would describe the origin of rolling friction and that would correspond to the performed experiments.

Three second prizes (€5 000 per project)

Country: Ireland

Contestant: Paul Clarke (17)

Field: Mathematics

Project title: Contributions to cyclic graph theory

Abstract: Graph theory is an area of pure mathematics which studies properties of linkages and networks. It has applications in several areas including computing, molecular structure, neuroscience, search engines, engineering etc. This project makes a profound contribution to the study of graphs. It identifies key concepts and provides the methodology to apply them to some long-standing major problems in the subject with great success.

Country: Bulgaria

Contestant: Petar Milkov Gaydarov (17)

Field: Mathematics

Project title: Hamming Distance of Polynomials over GF(2)

Abstract: In the project we examine an issue linked to the conjecture of Gilbert

Lee, Frank Ruskey and Aaron Williams concerning irreducible polynomials over GF(2). This issue is interesting because it examines random sets of polynomials close to the set of irreducible polynomials. Their conjecture states that the Hamming distance of every polynomial over GF(2) and its closest irreducible is at most c: The purpose of the present research is to find the mathematical expectation for a given polynomial to have a certain small Hamming distance from this uniformly chosen at random set. This may help us check which properties of the set of irreducible polynomials may lead to the proof of the conjecture.

Country: Slovenia

Contestant: Aleš Zupančič (18)

Field: Chemistry

Project title: Self-cleaning fabrics based on nanocovers

Abstract: The aim of our research was to develop a nanocoated fabric with a variety of nanoparticles which would have the highest level of the self-cleaning effect and would be environment- and people-friendly. For studying we used lyocell fibres, which were processed in different ethanol suspensions of nanoparticles. We investigated the photocatalysis of TiO2, ZnO, and Fe2O3 nanoparticles. By measuring the absorption spectrum, we determined the optimal ratio between the individual nanoparticles for the highest absorption in visible range. We carried out a test of the self-cleaning effect. We examined how many of the nanoparticles had been released into the environment during the shaking of the fabric in water, and whether the nanoparticles that had been released during the reaction in water were toxic for various aquatic organisms: crustacean Daphnia magna, marine bacteria Vibrio fischeri, and tropical fish Danio rerio. The results show that the tested method can be used for preparing effective coatings that are highly homogeneous and cover the fibre completely.

Abstract: The main idea of my research is to develop a miniature flowering apple tree ”Malus baccata x Malus prunifolia“ by growing it in a test tube. This sort of apple tree grows up to 7 m in height, blossoms red flowers, and grows apples of about 1 cm in size. In my test tubes, though, it is only 5 cm in height; moreover, after flowering it could be transferred and grown in pots. Lots of experiments on selecting plant hormones, testing medium for growing and propagating the tree, and flowering initiation were performed. Genetic analysis in order to find a flowering initiation gene was carried out as well. The developed flowering technology enables people to grow this mini-tree easily and widely, and could also be useful for scientists working on shortening the juvenile period of plants – the time until the first flowering.

Country: United Kingdom

Contestants: Ameeta Kumar (18) and Aneeta Kumar (18)

Field: Medicine

Project title: pHLIP? Beacon of hope

Abstract: Over 14 million people are diagnosed with cancer every year worldwide. It is also the cause of over 8 million deaths globally every year. With early diagnosis and initiation of treatment, the mortality and morbidity rate could be reduced. We investigated the effectiveness of novel pH Low Insertion Peptide (pHLIP) in imaging cancers, by utilising the low extracellular pH environment found around cancer cells. This was studied by growing 3D spheroids as models for tumours and incubating them with pHLIP. The spheroids were then imaged using confocal microscopy. We believe pHLIP imaging could be developed into a powerful tool in the fight against cancer.

Abstract: Exploration robots can explore collapsed buildings and send real-time images from inside – an important tool for emergency services in disaster areas. Specifically for this purpose, Philipp Mandler, Anselm Dewald and Robin Braun developed and programmed a six-legged walking robot that can be controlled via smartphone. "Hexapod" is more agile and more compact than comparable systems. The mobility talent masters even steps on a staircase and narrow access points. And if Hexapod should lose one of its legs during a deployment, it will continue to move safely even on unknown terrain.

The international cooperation prize (€5 000 per project)

Country: Switzerland

Contestant: Eric Giles Schertenleib (20)

Field: Physics

Project title: Jet and Film – On the interaction between a laminar jet and a soap film

Abstract: This project explains the physics behind the interaction of a thin liquid jet with a soap film. Three different shapes were observed: absorption, refraction and a critical regime. The work was compared to a previous study and shortcomings were identified. The project is both theoritical and experimental.

HONORARY AWARDS

Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar 2014Selected winners attend the 2014 Nobel Prize ceremonies, meet the Nobel Laureates and take part in a series of other scientific/cultural activities during the week.

Country: Switzerland

Contestant: Eric Giles Schertenleib (20)

Field: Physics

Project title: Jet and Film – On the interaction between a laminar jet and a soap film

Country: Czech Republic

Contestant: Luboš Vozdecký (19)

Field: Physics

Project title: Rolling Friction

Country: Bulgaria

Contestant: Petar Milkov Gaydarov (17)

Field: Mathematics

Project title: Hamming Distance of Polynomials over GF(2)

London International Youth Science Forum 2015Selected winners meet young scientists from around the world and take part in the annual two-week intensive summer science festival during July-August 2015.

Country: Portugal

Contestant: João Pedro Estácio Gaspar Gonçalves de Araújo (16)

Field: Mathematics

Project title: A natural characterization of semilattices of rectangular bands and groups of exponent two